Objective To investigate gender, age, refractive status and other factors that influ-ence the decision to wear rigid gas permeable contact lenses (RGPCL);to provide information for clin-ical reference. Methods Retrospective analysis was done using medical records of patients who were successfully tested and fitted with RGPCL at the Center from August 1999 to October 2009. Gender distribution was analyzed from all medical records. Data integrity was assured. The refractive status of 820 cases (1469 eyes) with integrity data was analyzed. Results Of the 882 cases of RGPCL wear-ers, 304 were males (34.5%) and 578 were females (65.5%). The gender difference between men and women was significant (X~2=170.24, P<0.01);312 persons were anisometropie among 820 persons wearing RGPCL (38.1%). Age groups: before the age of 40, patients were divided into groups for ev- ery 10-year age span, and another group equal to or older than 41 years. Wearers of all ages were statistically different in the number of eyes (X~2=1115.1, P<0.01). Spherical refractions for low, medi-um, high and ultra-high myopia and hyperopia were used to separate groups for analysis: low my- opia 195 eyes (13.3%), moderate myopia 374 eyes (25.5%), high myopia 364 eyes (24.8%) and ul-tra-high myopia 446 eyes (30.4%), and hyperopia 90 eyes (6.1%). The differences were statisticallysignificant (X~2=363.5, P<0.01). Astigmatism from -0.50 to -2.00 D, from -2.25 to -5.00 D and greater than -5.00 D were grouped for analysis. The differences were statistically significant (X~2=597.6, P<0.01). Conclusion Gender, age and refractive status significantly affect the decision to wear RGPCL.